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Thursday, March 17, 2016

Why Are We Having Primaries At All?

RNC official Curly Haugland tells CNBC, "We choose the nominee, not the voters":

The last time the GOP invoked the rules discussed in the video above was 1976?
Gerald Ford was the incumbent that year, but Ronald Reagan had made a good showing in several primaries and at the convention:

...State delegations who vote for one candidate on the first ballot could actually turn out to be sleeper cells for another as the voting proceeds.

Nor are they bound at any point to support the candidate to whom they are pledged on fights over rules, credentials, the platform or the vice presidential nominee. Those kinds of battles can determine whether the convention is an orderly coronation or a street fight, possibly even putting new names in contention....

[...]...[K]eep an eye on the emerging composition of the Republican National Convention Rules Committee. That committee of more than 100 will carry wide authority over the nominating rules at the convention, including rules over who can be nominated at all on the floor of the convention.

It's possible that neither Donald Trump nor Ted Cruz will reach the magic number (1,237) on the first ballot. No wonder Party leaders keep asserting, "Donald Trump will never be the nominee"!

Top Republicans will try to force more transparency at the party’s national convention in July, aiming to scrap their 1,500-page rule book in favor of simpler procedures that they hope will head off arcane maneuvers designed to deny Donald Trump the presidential nomination.The changes wouldn’t guarantee Mr. Trump the nod but would make it easier for all sides to see what sorts of changes anti-Trump factions are attempting.Some members of the Republican National Committee want to ditch the massive rule book, which is based on the parliamentary handbook of the U.S. House, and instead use Robert’s Rules of Order to govern floor action at the convention. Robert’s is the standard manual used by entities such as civic associations, county boards and state legislatures.Those pushing the change are not Trump partisans, but they want to make it hard to forge in secrecy what voters might see as backroom deals to “steal” the presidential nomination from Mr. Trump, the front-runner.

This is how the Iranian mullahs do it. Control who can get in and control the pseudo-democratic election process. We're seeing on the GOP side what happens when the process goes off the rails because voters refuse to swallow the party propaganda and be socialized

The Democrat voters are still more easily manipulated, so their kabuki played out as planned: Run a Democratic Socialist as a voter safety valve to let out some steam, while the Hillary Panzer Korps rolls boringly to victory, crushing everything in its path.

Parties used to literally select their candidates in smoke-filled rooms. Maybe the party politburos could go back to that and stop pestering us with sham primaries?

The formula of the Party-State, as the defining feature of twentieth-century Communism, thus needs to be complicated: there is always a gap between Party and State, corresponding to the gap between the Ego-Ideal (symbolic Law) and the Superego, for the Party remains the half-hidden obscene shadow which redoubles the State structure. There is here no distance, its organization embodying a fundamental distrust of the State organs and mechanisms, as if they need to be continually kept in check. A true twentieth-century-style Communist never fully accepts the State: there always has to be a vigilant agency outside of State control, with the power to intervene in the State's business.

Donald J. Trump , as well as Ted Cruz stands against many of the principles that has made America a nation that many have envied and indeed sought to come to it's shores in the hopes of starting a better life. This has been true since America's beginnings as a nation state. A pleage on both of their houses.

Donald Trump, by his own words and actions, has caused millions of truly patriotic Americans to question whether his slogan Make America Great Again maybe isn't just code for resetting America back to the past. A past it has worked hard to break free from. His nationalism, xenophobia, divisiveness, rudeness, crudeness, lack of respect for international law, his apparent willingness to ignore the constitution, and his absolute refusal to accept responsibility for events caused partially, if not wholly, by his words and actions is certainly reason to work to make the possibility of him become president an impossibility.Many of the Rightwing looney tunes are blind to this but see only what that only want to see, and hear only what they want to hear, or in some cases, just see fit to post dumb poetry , and sing songs.

Do You think Trump supporters care about honesty and or integrity? They don’t even know the meaning of those words. Have you been watching the klan-like rallies that The Trumpster has been holding? His followers want a racist authoritarian regime and that's what they support, all while wrapping themselves in the American flag.Imagine how they would feel if they were told the truth, and told how they're being used like pawns?

You should occupy yourself with the fun that is pointing out that only Bernie Sanders sounds like an anti-TARP (first iteration) Tea Partier. Yes, I know the Tea Party has mutated into stale, populist oatmeal, but there's plenty of blame external and internal for that.

What you say about Donald Trump MAY be true, that "Donald Trump may be a racist, war-mongering a-hole." But guess what? We know all that. We support him because this time, he's OUR "racist, war-mongering a-hole." And just like you progressive a-holes, we'll do whatever the 'f we like. :)

Hey LibRules, if you want the Government to have all the guns, just give all your guns to the Government. Set the example for the rest of us. The only thing stopping you from living is a gun-free world is your own hypocrisy... :)

I've given up trying to understand how Donald Trump has managed to bamboozle so many and grow his support to just over 50% among republicans. Maybe some one can write a poem explaining the stupidity of this all?If that's at all possible .

I keep thinking that Trump is playing this whole political primary products cess as a reality show. He is just trying to see what he can get away with, and how far he can push the boundaries. And then one of these days, he is going to,say, OK I quit. I've had my fun and screw you.

And I think, no, he really means all this sh*t, and we are really screwed because so many of the American people are just pissed off and not thinking rationally.

I personally am not comfortable with Hillary Clinton I might be a misogynist. And I surely am not comfortable with Donald Trump by any stretch of the imanagation. That is laughable. Frankly I can't stand either one of them.

I do not like Hillary's demeaner or the fact she has pretty much been quiet does not make me (or anyone else) a misogynist. I certainy will not be voting republican in November and I look forward to the debates. If after hearing HRC and observing her body language (BTW, Trump the Rump's Body language tells much) she is able to convince me she's the right person for the job and will serve the nation well I will have to change my mind. It is called being rational, something many who populate right wing blogs are not.

LEt me tell you that ever since Ronald Reagan's administration ended, I have felt abandoned by the GOP. The elder Bush was just a liberal in GOP clothing, and his clan all think like him. "Voodoo economics" is what he calls capitalism. Not good. And Bob Dole was no good, a Bush clone. And Dubya didn't fall far from the tree. And then came McCain (don't get me started on that 'maverick' SOB), then Romney, and now the current crop of establishment phonies. They all promise smaller government, but it never happens. We see spending explode, even with GOP majorities in the house and senate. Unbelievable how they can break their promises to us for handing them the gavels. We come through for them in the elections, hand them their gavels, and they grab them, think nothing of it and start compromising with the pinkos. Screw those guys!

If these establishment types (Cruz excepted, they hate him, too) better watch out if they plan on nullifying the will of the conservative voter and steal the nomination from Donald Trump. They will be wandering in the wilderness politically speaking for the rest of their days, it will be the death of the GOP as they know it.

I think this is, at least on the Pub's side, a pushback by the peons who are tired of being played by the Beltway insiders with promises that get ignored as soon as the votes are in. Trump/Cruz are both 'outsiders' in that they don't play the DC games, and both tend to call a spade a spade without rancor.

Mike what is it about the left that needs to stick their nose in other people's business. If I were a citizen of Ireland I would seriously hold my head in shame at the laughingstock loser they elected. The left is fond of edited clips of him debating listen to the whole exchange and it was not a big time host.

Ergo, it well behooves all of us to RELAX, and LET GO. We are not in control. The Masters of the Game WILL take us where THEY want us to go no matter what, SO just sit back, t ake up your knitting, and ENJOY the RIDE.

The most merciful aspect of mortal existence is that eventually it ENDS.

Idiotic Lester's stupidity knows no bounds, Mr.Potatohead links to a Huff Post story and actually thinks people here would pay an attention at all to that partisan POS. Lester, run back to Boston Piggy's chat room, perhaps they would find that shit inter

Former Senator Robert Dole is at it again: raging against conservatism in favor of compromise with liberals.

He has been quoted lately as suggesting that 'Sen. Ted Cruz can't get along with anyone in his own party, how can we expect him to cross the aisle and get along with the opposition?' I paraphrase here, but that's Bob Dole's opinion on how conservatives should operate: compromise with the other guys who want to destroy our country as it was founded.

WE DON'T WANT OUR GUY TO GET ALONG WITH THE OPPOSITION, BOB!!!

We want to defeat them, Bob. We want to beat them like a rented mule, we demand that we beat them like a red-headed step-child. We want to drop Democrats like a bag of dirt, drop them like a bad transmission, or drop them like 3rd period French. We want to assign their horrible ideas to the dustbin of history. We don't want someone in the White House who will make it a point to compromise with communists. Like you did during your entire, wretched compromising career, Bob.

Hillary Clinton will be the next POTUS, and there is nothing any of you can do to stop her. It is time for a woman president! And just as we gave American the first black president, we will give you the first woman president.

It is CLEAR that those voting in the primaries don't want any of those establishment candidates. But never mind that. The Party leaders continue to push for the candidate of the Party leaders' choosing.

BTW, you might want to read this excellent essay by one of my buddies over at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

...Shame and blame belong to GOPe’s Cruz, Rubio, Romney and Kasich for supporting the acts of terrorism and destruction against Trump and his supporters as they twisted truth, blamed the innocent and demonized their political opponent TRUMP in an effort to achieve relevance in Trump’s proAmerica movement that does not include them.

Cruz certainly worked feverishly to incite anger against Trump. His rant against Trump not being the “true conservative” contrasts sharply with his own liberal ideology showcased in his support for the TPP, TPA and Amnesty which certainly illustrates Cruz’s support for the globalization of the USA, the destruction of her sovereignty and the redistribution of her jobs. Those very acts confirm Cruz is no Reagan Conservative.

Read it all at the above link. Disagree? Fine. But understand that the anti-Trump protests and objections of all ilks are not sweetness and light.

The problem is the primary system. Political parties are supposed to be private, NOT GOVERNMENT entities. The people use political parties to advocate their cause. What has happened is that politicians have used state laws to defuse political activists.

Think this through. Doesn't the First Amendment give us the right of freedom of assembly? Don't we have the right to petition the government? However, politicians have used state laws to hamstring political parties. Instead of people who take an active interest and participate as Republicans or Democrats, people who just happen to decide to take a moment and vote in a primary pick our presidential candidates. Similarly, the same thing happens for lower level political offices.

So what is the issue. Instead of people who take a real interest in politics choosing the candidates, primaries allow whoever the news media wants to shove down our throat to get the nomination, somebody like Donald Trump. That is, whoever gets the most news coverage wins.

If people don't like Republicans or Democrats, what is the appropriate option? Well, it sure isn't open primaries. The appropriate option is to form a third party and advocate a runoff election.

Why a runoff election? As the system is currently rigged, people are afraid they will waste their vote if they vote for a third party candidate. In fact, they fear the guy they most dislike will win.

Want proof? Look at Congress. Virtually every single one of those guys was first elected as a Republican or a Democrat.

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